Shopify Fraud Analysis High: What to Do Next
A high-risk flag in Shopify is a strong warning, not a verdict. Here is how to read it, what Shopify already did, and what to check before you ship.
The order came in. The money cleared. Then you open it and see the fraud analysis says high risk. Now what?
What a high-risk fraud analysis result means
Shopify's fraud recommendation rates each eligible order. It says if the risk of a fraud chargeback is low, medium, or high. High risk is the top of that scale. It means the order has a high risk of a chargeback due to fraud.
It is a strong reason to stop and check before you pack the box. A fraudulent sale can later turn into a chargeback.
If you are new to the tool itself, start with the fraud analysis Shopify overview.
How Shopify generates the recommendation
Machine learning powers it. The model was trained on past transactions from all Shopify stores. Those transactions are far more than any one merchant sees. The model looks for patterns that resemble past fraud.
The indicators behind it cover two things. The first kind looks at the billing details and the payment itself. The second kind looks at how the buyer, their location, their device and their network behave. Some are checks you would run yourself, like the credit card Address Verification System and the correct CVV code. Others look at patterns. One example is a mismatch between customer location and payment method.
What happens automatically when Shopify Payments blocks a high-risk payment
Some high-risk checkouts never become orders. Shopify Payments steps in and stops them first. In those cases, the customer's money never moves. No order is created.
The block is not permanent in a simple way. Shopify Payments checks the risk each time the customer submits checkout. If the customer tries again with different payment or billing details, the payment might not be blocked. If a customer tries to place another order before the block is removed, the timer resets.
You can review blocked checkout attempts in the Blocked view of Orders and Abandoned checkouts. Worth a look now and then. A string of blocked attempts from one shopper tells you something the individual blocks do not.
Where to find the risk level, recommendation and indicators
Open the order in your admin. There you will see how risky the order is, what Shopify suggests, and which signals fired. Suspicious orders get an exclamation mark icon. Scan your order list and you will spot them fast.
Fraud analysis works on online credit card orders that Shopify can verify. With some outside payment processors, Shopify never hears the results of the review. An order paid that way may show less than a full picture.
How to review a high-risk order before fulfilling
Shopify's own guidance is blunt on this point. Fulfilling high-risk orders can lead to more chargebacks. You could also be removed from Shopify Payments. So do not click fulfill and move on.
Read the whole recommendation. Do not judge by one indicator alone. Shopify says to review the fraud recommendation. Do not decide from one indicator, or from how many there are. Several weak signals can add up to less than one strong one, and one strong signal can be wrong on its own.
Then look at the order the way you would for any card not present fraud prevention check. Does the basket make sense for this customer? Is the shipping address a freight forwarder? Is the email a throwaway? Did the same details fail on earlier orders?
If the order looks clean apart from the flag, fulfilling it is your call, with the risk Shopify describes. If it does not, cancel and refund it.
What to do about indicators you disagree with
Sometimes an indicator fires and you know why. The AVS check failed on an address you know the customer uses. You can still decide to ship. Write down why, so the next person on your team makes the same call.
Sometimes the flag is right and the order is bad. Cancel it. Either way, the indicator is a prompt to look, not an order to obey.
A medium result needs a lighter touch. The fraud analysis medium Shopify guide covers that ground.
Automating checks with Shopify Flow and third-party apps
You can use Shopify Flow to build fraud prevention workflows. The workflows run without you and screen each incoming order. That saves you from reading every order by hand, which stops being realistic once volume grows.
Fraud indicators and third-party fraud prevention apps work on the Basic plan or higher. You can view indicators and recommendations from third-party fraud apps together with fraud analysis for each order. The tools sit side by side, not in separate screens.
There is a way to try the feature safely. You can fake an order at any of the three risk levels and watch what happens. Because these are test orders, they don't receive a real fraud recommendation. Analysis usually happens right away, though in rare cases it can take a few minutes.
Want to see how another provider's machine learning works? The Stripe AI fraud detection page explains that approach.